Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Sweetness From Seattle

I thought all Asian candy was made from rice paper, crickets, and fish. Not so. Jodi sent me some myth busting treats from the Seattle Uwajimaya which held up to road trip torture on a sun fried day in April. (Okay, I love Hi-Chew, which was sent along for the ride. It was the only candy that melted, which doesn't make sense except that it melted at Miller Park. It would have been more fitting if it had choked somebody then fell apart in September.)

I had to eat several Meiji Apollo Chocolate Strawberry candies to assure they were cricket free. No arthropoda of any kind, no top melt, just perky smooth chocolate with a healthy kick of strawberry.The little ridged cones are big enough to pop in your mouth or decorate a large pastry. They're willing springtime travel candy that will leave a tell tale glop if you pose them on a hot steel railing, but why would you do that?I love how they smell, all strawberry on top and chocolate bottomed. They come alive in your mouth (eww) and take turns treating your tongue to strawberry and cocoa.The Meiji Apollos are pretty, described as "umbrellas" or "cones" or "mountain-shaped." I especially like the mountain image from JBOX.com, which says the candy is made to look like a mountain of chocolate covered in strawberry snow.Cool.

Possessing the mind and taste of an eight-year-old boy, I'm not a dark chocolate fan. But I liked these Dars Bitter Chocolate pieces (made by Morinaga, the Hi-Chew people), they didn't have an overwhelming bite and harbored a soft infusion of bitter chocolate.The box opens neatly from the right with a sturdy tray full of silky pieces sliding out handily. I'm close to calling them luscious or decadent, giving the Dars box an "A" for presentation.

The Dars held up incredibly well to warm weather travel without sacrificing taste or appearance. I'm eating them days later and they still look great...wait...gone now.Another dark chocolate candy of a different color is the Kuroi Chocoball, also by Morinaga. They look like small Whoppers with a super charged cocoa smack. The inside is wafer crunchy with Oreo cookie overtones and an intense chocolate rush.

It took reading glasses and a strong light bulb to see the Kuroi ("black" in Japanese) Chocoball label and the Kyorochan icon. (Kyorochan is the parrot on the box. It had a 91 episode deal with Japanese TV.) Thank you, Wikipedia.

Funny, I can see how this is the candy of an animated parrot. It's deceivingly rich with an airy center and comes off as fun and addictive.If Kaboom and Count Chocula aren't enough to jump start your day, slip a few Black Sugar Chocoballs in your cereal bowl and see what happens.

23 comments:

Wish I knew why they hold up in the sun so well, but all the ingredients are in Japanese. Do you have a good Asian grocery to go to in Madison? I don't like the one on Park St., but the one on Allen and University is okay.I highly recommend the Dars bitter chocolate out of all of them. Be good as a little gifty.

I wish I knew why they held up so well, too. But I can't read Japanese either. s'weird. The little chocolate strawberry things are my kid's favorite. :) Glad you liked them. (they sound much better when you talk about them, for some reason she just tugs at my arm and points. No descriptions whatsoever...)

Thanks again, Jodi, I'm going to be on the look out for the Dars, they're probably at the World Market, but I've soured on that place. There are some Asian grocery stores here, I don't know what I'm looking for so I usually don't go in them.If I really wanted to I could search on line and get the English ingredients, but I shouldn't even be inside now since it's stopped raining. For now. Hell you must know what that feels like.

I'm gonna try the strawberry cones. There's a big Japanese market nearby--I love looking at all the crazy (to me anyway) candies and treats. I recently had some chocolate-covered cookies formed into the shape of tree stumps. Cute picture of a Samurai lumber jack on the package.

I don't know, Jim, you are far more adventurous than I. I'll look for the Meiji name the next time I wander into an Asian grocery. Am making a point of looking for the Dars.I bet my mother would love the rich pistachio bar.

They're fun and tasty, Mary Ruth. Bet they would have traveled a little ways in Texas too. Yeah, it's just one big fishy blur to me most of the time. I think the only thing I recognized before were the Pocky straws.Tree stump cookies you say? Sounds intriguing. I gots to see that samuri lumberjack!

Oh, I think I'll keep my eyes open for those Dars. My grandma LOVES dark chocolate, but not the really bitter kind. She broke her leg a few weeks ago, and has to stay in an assisted living place until she can walk again. Fun, huh? No. I'd say she's earned some dark chocolate!

...meiji chocolate? There's lots of that here. I'll send some your way next time I'm in downtown Seattle. I was looking at it, and figured I'd stick with the Hi-chew company. I've never tried one, I really should. :)

Hi J., those places can be okay if you can visit and spruce up the place while they're there. I'd say the Dars would be a nice present for someone who doesn't want anything too bitter, but rich and dark nonetheless.

Jodi, the Dars was my fav and that is Morinaga. The strawberry and chocolate cones are the Meiji Apollo. Haven't looked for them around here yet, but it seems like something that should be at one of the Asian stores or World Market.If I buy that kind of candy it's for someone else, me, I stick to Sour Patch Kids and licorice.

Is that cuz most of your friends are democrats, PB?I wish you lived closer so I could get everyone to call you Poodle Bitch.Haven't decided where to go yet, but will try to call up some rattler karma. Maybe they'll like Cha Cha and crawl in the car.

Aw Jodi woman, you're just addicted to Amp and interaction. I think you're the anti-me. (That's a compliment.) Like right now I want to go down to WORT and smack the hippie out of the guy reading tips for winter bikers (aka pains in my ass) like he's Studs Terkel.